The Iraqi embassy in Berlin has issued 1,400 passports recently for Iraqi migrants who want to return to their home country, the German foreign ministry said. A ministry official told Reuters only 150 passports had been issued here by the end of last October and did not give any reason for the sharp increase since then. Separately, a ministry source said the increase could be related to recent developments in the conflict in Iraq. Iraq was the fifth most important country of origin for asylum applications in Germany in 2015, data from the Interior Ministry shows. In recent weeks, the German government has urged authorities from migrants’ and refugees’ countries of origin to provide passports for people willing to return.